It’s the go-to excuse on par with “the dog ate my homework” and “the check is in the mail.”

When things go south with the Bruins — and even sometimes when things go right, like last night after a 6-0 drubbing of Ottawa – we hear “strip the C from Chara.”

I understand why Zdeno Chara gets booed in every enemy building he visits. No one roots for Goliath, and as the man tasked with shutting down that fan base’s top scorer, everyone’s going to do what they can to get under his skin.

But why Chara is belittled and criticized endlessly in his own hometown is a mystery to me. Attempting to solve it might be like trying to prove ghosts exist.

This whole “strip the C” concept is fairly new to Boston, and it’s kind of unique to this town. I believe it dates back to the ’04 playoffs, when Boston Globe Hall-of-Fame writer Kevin Paul Dupont made the suggestion in regards to the Bruins and Joe Thornton.

Whether you agreed or disagreed with Dupont, at least he had a list of legitimate reasons why he thought it was time to take the letter from “Jumbo Joe.” Thornton’s decision to skirt media duties between Game 6 and 7 of a playoff series with Montreal finally pushed Dupont over the edge and forced him to write his famous piece “It’s Time for Thornton to Get Hook as Captain.”

After Thornton left town, the Bruins left the captaincy vacant. Little did they know that decision would drum up less controversy than handing it to their new free-agent acquisition the following summer. While nothing was ever signed or even promised, there’s no doubt that one of the many reasons Chara chose Boston over some 18 suits in July 2006 was because there was an opportunity to become the captain.

If Chara were one to let what others say and write about him bother him, he might have declined the opportunity to wear the Bruins’ C’and gone about his business as a periphery leader of the team. The “strip the C” crowd is on his case regardless of how the team is faring. A captaincy crushing moment like Thornton’s from April 2004 hardly has occurred with Chara.

The only two times in my recollection that he has stiffed the media are last Saturday night in Montreal and after his game-losing giveaway in Game 3 of the second-round playoff series in Carolina in ’09. Both times he used the same excuse about being too emotional to speak and being afraid to say the wrong thing. Now, even if you believe that failing to address the media is a sign of poor leadership, you have to acknowledge that if it’s not in Chara’s approach to the role to spew venom immediately, that’s his right — just like it’s anyone else’s prerogative to criticize him for it. Everyone has a different concept of how to show leadership. Not everyone has to be a Patton or a MacArthur, or even a Mark Messier.

Beyond the two incidences of media neglect, I cannot name one thing Chara has done to convince so many people he’s not a sufficient leader. He works harder than anyone, maybe in the entire NHL. He showed up to last fall’s training camp and promptly cranked out a million pull-ups, or whatever number that fish story details now. Unless I was asleep on the job, there has yet to be one detailed occurrence where a Bruins player, current or former, with attribution or without, has claimed Zdeno Chara is not the right captain for the Bruins. Plenty of people outside of that dressing room have claimed it, but inside where it counts there have been nothing but commendations for the work Chara does as captain on and off the ice.

It seems that everyone who wants Chara to relinquish the C has a different person they’d like to see wear it. There’s the Shawn Thornton camp, the Mark Recchi camp, the Patrice Bergeron camp, and others. All are solid leaders. For varying reasons, based on place on the depth chart, salary and length of contract with the Bruins, they may or may not make a great captain. Recchi and Bergeron get to wear the A. Last season, one A was rotated and several different players possessing different personalities and leadership styles got a turn. There was no bigger introvert, at least publicly, than Marco Sturm. No one demanded he give up his month as an alternate captain.

You can glance at the list 30 NHL team captains, including the captain-less New Jersey Devils, and find a potpourri of different players who received the letter for different reasons. Some teams wanted to get jump on making a young player the focal point of the club, like in Los Angeles (Dustin Brown) and Chicago (Jonathan Toews). Some gave the C to the team’s best player like Washington (Alexander Ovechkin). And then you have clubs like Colorado (Adam Foote) and Florida (Bryan McCabe) that went with complementary players who have been around a while and know how to find their leadership niche.

Maybe the notion that Chara doesn’t fulfill his duties as captain comes from a misunderstanding of what a captain should do. The Bruins, and a lot of teams in the NHL these days, aren’t built to have everyone sit and wait for the captain to tell them what to do. Over the years, the various aspects of the team’s leadership duties have been taken on by multiple players – be it Aaron Ward serving as a quote machine for the media, Stephane Yelle or P.J. Axelsson taking young forwards under their wing or Shawn Thornton providing the comic relief for everyone that crosses through the dressing room. There aren’t enough letters to go around.

In Chara, and Bergeron, the Bruins have leaders that play and practice as though they’re still trying to make the NHL or maybe even their junior team or star on the pond at home. They’re both leaders by example. They can speak up at times, but you can’t wait all your life for them to say something so profound it’ll bring the Stanley Cup home.

At the same time, they both take pride in wearing the letter. This is a tradition, almost exclusive to hockey, that might’ve seen it’s time pass. No one can tell me that the Red Sox are the only team in baseball with a strong “captain” because Jason Varitek wears the C. While some C-wearers are great leaders of men, others wear it the same way Queen Elizabeth wears her crown and jewels. It’s a ceremonial perch not meant to determine the fate of a nation, or a sports team as the case may be.

Remember, the last two times the Bruins won the Cup — 1970 and 1972 — no one wore a C. Sure, it’s widely acknowledged by players and sports writers that Johnny Bucyk was the de facto captain, especially since he was the one that raised the Cup after the triumphs and had worn the ‘C’ last. But there were only A’s sewn on the sweaters. Wow, if talk radio had only been invented then. “Give Bobby the C” might’ve been a rallying cry.

You can sew a letter up on anyone’s jersey. It’s the player’s actions, not his uniform decoration that counts the most. And if you want to keep your “sacred” C tradition alive in the sport, fine. I’d be all right with taking all the letters off all the sweaters.

But until someone with firsthand knowledge tells me or another media member that Chara committed a heinous act of “anti-captain” proportions, he should keep his C and everyone should just accept him for what he is. Because with him signed for another seven years, and the Bruins’ brass publicly committed to him as both blue-line mainstay and captain, Chara is going to end his run in the Hub as one of the longest-tenured captains in franchise history.

The people who started this crap are the same people calling for Julien’s and Chiarelli’s jobs, are the same people who can’t pronounce “Seguin”, and are the same people who haven’t watched a game all year or their entire lives (let alone play).

They’re the idiot Boston sports media that knows nothing about hockey — and consistently reaches for tired cliches, especially when they know nothing about the sport they comment on.

They’re the geniuses of daytime and rush hour sports radio on WEEI and WBZ. Unfortunately, they’re also the only major sport outlets in New England so no one has a choice but to listen to them.

Today, they went on and on about how Bergeron should be the captain. No surprise, its in the middle of possibly the biggest hot streak of his career. Next week, when he cools off, they’ll berate him for a lack of “consistency”.

Oh yeah, the hosts (who I’ll leave nameless) also thought Bergeron had tallied 17 points in his last three games. Sorry buddy, he’s got 17 in the last MONTH! Have you ever even watched a game?

The real problem is when they bring team President Cam Neely on the show to ask him if Claude Julien’s job is in trouble because they had lost a whopping three games in a row between Dec 11-15. If Theo Epstein were asked that question every time the Red Sox had a three-game losing streak, the Sox would have a new manager every month.

Are you not watching the same game as the rest of us? There is no way he is a Norris winner. He looks like a swivel on a stick. The only reason he has such an ungodly +/- is because he is always on the ice. Take the Montreal all game. He was on the ice for all of the Montreal goals. How many times has he been on the ice when the Bruins have scored an open net goal inflating his numbers. He is suppose to have the hardest shot in the NHL. Why does he always take his wimpy wrist shots? Did you see the game against Buffalo when he was knocked on his butt and which is a fight for him and patted the Buffalo player on his butt? Why is he always falling down? Why does it look like he is using his stick to keep himself up? He is terrible with a capital T. He doesn’t deserve the C or the money they are paying him.

a captain should always show passion. Chara does not. a captain should always lead his team by example in the effort department. Chara does not. a captain should be more than capable of speaking clearly in a language that most of the team can understand. Chara does not. Bergeron, Recchi, Thornton and even Marchand would make better captains at this juncture. this team could use a shakeup. this team could use a passionate captain. this team does not benefit from Chara holding the captaincy. tell me again why his being the captain helps this team win.

Janis, I know that Chara has won a Norris and been an all-star but that doesn’t make one worthy of the honors. Paul Coffey won a Norris. Derek Jeter has won multiple gold gloves. Neither was deserving in my opinion, just like Chara’s.
CNL, I would love to go over the tape with you as well and point out all the players that have skated right by Chara because he is back on his heels trying to poke check a guy instead of preventing him from getting to the net. I know there is a time and place for a poke check. I think Chara relies on it to much.
Maybe I was spoiled watching d-men like Bourque and Chelios and Lindstrom growing up. I just expext more from a number 1.
That is not to say I don’t appreciate Chara’s work ethic and team leadership. I’m glad he plays for us. I like him as captain. I just think he’s not the best d-man in the league or even in the top 10.

I personally have no problem with Chara wearing the C. He is our best player & by far the one player that would be missed from our line-up the most of any if he wasn’t there. He plays 30 minutes a game against the best players from opposing teams & does a darn good job of it. Is he perfect? certainly not! Do I agree with everything he does on or off the ice? No! Is he still the best man for the job in Boston? You bet he is!!

Matt, thanks for writing such a thorough article and opening up this great discussion. Unfortunately, the facts will never matter to all those haters in the world that insist the grass is greener on the other side.

As for who wears the next “A,” Thornton is a great guy, but not alternate captain material. Mark Stuart captained his college team and the U.S. at the WJC and is already a leader on the B’s. The “A” will go to him.

I think this talk about Chara was started by the hockey moron from an afternoon radio talk show host. From all accounts Chara is one of the hardest working players in the NHL and I think that’s the only thing you can ask from your captain. That and having your teammates back and Chara does that aswell. I’m glad Chara is on this team and I’m glad that he is going to wear the spoked B for years to come and I feel the same way about Bergeron and Thomas.

Jon, I think you are smoking crack. Sorry. There isn’t a single aspect of Chara’s game that makes him a #2. Sure he doesn’t light the net enough for everyone. No one on our team does. Am I the only one who’s never expected that from this guy?

I would love to sit in a room and go over tape of Chara playing a game and personally point out to these haters what they obviously don’t see. They could even pick the game if they’d like. You find his “worst” game and I’ll still show you a #1 D-Man… on pretty much any team in this league.

But instead, I’m forced to refer to the stats. The same ones no one has yet been able to refute (or will ever be able to). 30 mins a game vs the league’s best players while maintaining one of the league’s top +/- at +17. Only 7 games with a minus rating. Lidstrom and last year’s Norris winner, Keith, have played 16 minus games. Same as Byfuglien. Who else is in the Norris talk? Letang? He also has 7.

As for hitting, in today’s NHL, the best defensemen use their positional play far more than relying on the big hit. Take Lidstrom for instance who went all the way to Stanley Cup glory while only being credited with 5 hits, in 2008. This season he has 24. Chara has 90. Once again Byfuglien has 73, Keith has 25 and only had 46 on his way to the Norris last season.

There is absolutely no warranting disappointment in Chara, let alone the hate. Give me one example. Just one… Please.

Yes Jon, because utilizing your twice as long as anyone else in the game reach, isn’t one of his “on ice advantages”. There are few players in the game better at taking away space with body and reach than Z, while he certainly isn’t Bobby Orr, he is by far and away the best D-man this club has seen since Bourque left and the premiere defensive d-man in the league.

As for the “C” business, I tend to agree that its for the most part meaningless. As long as there is a group of guys that are vocal and a group of guys that lead by example, who has a letter on their jersey is pretty much meaningless.

Look, Chara is a grossly overrated player. He wastes all the on ice advantages he should have by trying to poke check instead on taking the body in almost every situation and not coming even in the same zip code as the net with his “record breaking” shot from the point. He has no puck handling skills. He couldn’t keep a puck in the offensive zone if his life depended on it even with his ten foot long reach. He’s a second defensemen, at best (I tend to think his a third), not a Norris trophy caliber one or an All-Star. But none of that has anything to do with being captain. Do the other players see him as a leader? Does he step up to handle the press and draw attention away from the other guys? Wither the fans think the C should be taken away or not doesn’t really matter. And in all honesty, wither the media thinks so or not doesn’t matter either. If the Bruins have a functional clubhouse, which it seems to me they do, then there is no reason to take the C away from Chara

“A captaincy crushing moment like Thornton’s from April 2004 hardly has occurred with Chara.”

IDK about that. Chara was the captain of the biggest choke job in the History of the NHL last year against the Flyers. As captain and the highest paid player on the team, I think that might just qualify as a crushing moment. He can do all the pull ups, push ups, bike rides in the world, but all of those things have not shown to get his team out of the 2nd round or win a game 7 in his entire career.

“This is a tradition, almost exclusive to hockey, that might’ve seen it’s time pass. ”
&
“It’s a ceremonial perch not meant to determine the fate of a nation, or a sports team as the case may be.”

Exactly! So who cares?!? It’s pointless to argue about who is captain and who should be captain, because the C, in and of itself pointless.
Besides the non-hockey responsibilites that come with it (community appreances, etc) the only real hockey duty that comes with the C is being able to talk to the officials to get clarification on penalties.
Vocal guys in the dressing room are going to speak up with the C or w/o it, so it doesn’t prevent things that need to be said, from being said. Plus, it doesn’t matter to a team who is captain, unless it is someone who the team votes into that potition, which unforutnatley, just doesn’t happen these days.